Friday, June 6, 2014

Raising a Reader: Read on the Road

If your summer is anything like mine, you will find that
your minivan becomes more like a second home. There are family reunions, summer
vacations, and weekend camping trips to be had. It is all so great- but it
certainly adds up to some SERIOUS time spent in the car. Add kids to the mix
and the trip time seems to magically double… yeesh.

I know that pretty much any family car you will ever see
comes equipped with a DVD player. The man who sold us our minivan lovingly
referred to it as “the babysitter.” I also know that an iPad is a toddler’s
best friend and that your phone probably holds enough apps to calm a daycare.
I, too, have an entire Pinterest board dedicated to road trip survival kits and
lap games for kids. I get it. Traveling with kids is requires an advanced form
of parenting.

Before you pass another tablet to the backseat or spend the
night before a trip laminating another folder game, make sure you first
consider adding an audiobook to your arsenal.

There is a whole world of audiobooks out there catered to
your wee ones.And the best part? It is
an AWESOME way to boost your child’s reading skill. Studies show that listening
to books helps readers to:-Develop a sense of narrative

Audiobooks have become our favorite way to spend time in the
car. We first started out listening to The Magic Tree House series. My girls
were only 3 and 2 at the time but they LOVED it. The books topics led to
awesome discussions about medieval knights, what a mummy was, and how to travel
to the moon.

We have since moved on to Beverly Cleary books, Shel
Silverstein poems, Roald Dahl and a collection of short stories. Each time, my girls get
wrapped up in the story and beg for more!

You can find audiobooks on Amazon or Audible.com but no need
to spend big bucks on your personal collection. Head over to your library! The
children’s section of my library has a whole case of audiobooks your littles
will love.

2 comments
:

Anonymous
said...

Such a great idea! My little guy always asks for my phone to play on when we are driving to the grandparents house which is 45 mins away. This is such a better alternative! They might even be excited to leave places if I remind them of the story we are listening to. Thanks! Great post!

my kids love audiobooks too!... the boxcar children books, Dinosaurs Never Say Please, Mrs. Piggle-wiggle, a Bear Called Paddington, Steward Little, and the Wizard of Oz are some they've loved recently. (my daughter is 4.5 and my son is 6.5)

Now that it's summer break, when they ask to watch tv or a movie I keep saying "it's summer break we don't watch tv, we play more!" SO far they're buying it :-) But I do have audiobook time and they sit on the couch or in bed with their headphones and except for the very loud-jabbering 1 year old it brings some peace and quite!